Windows Error Reporting Registry Key Location

Windows Error Reporting (WER) is a built-in infrastructure in Windows that captures software crash and hang data for diagnostic purposes. System administrators and users can configure, customize, or disable WER behavior directly through the Windows Registry. This guide details the specific registry keys that store Windows Error Reporting settings for both machine-wide and user-specific configurations.

Primary System-Wide Registry Key

The primary registry key storing global configuration settings for Windows Error Reporting across the entire system is:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting

Settings applied within this key affect all users on the computer unless overridden by Group Policy.

User-Specific Registry Key

For individual user accounts, Windows Error Reporting settings are stored in the following path:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting

Configurations placed here apply only to the currently logged-in user profile.

Group Policy Registry Keys

If Windows Error Reporting is managed via Local Group Policy or Active Directory, the configurations are stored in the policy-specific keys:

• Machine Policies: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting
• User Policies: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting

Values defined under the Policies keys take precedence over standard settings in the main Windows Error Reporting keys.

Important Subkeys and Values

Within the main WER keys, several values and subkeys control specific behaviors:

• Disabled (DWORD): Set to 1 to disable Windows Error Reporting entirely, or 0 to enable it.
• DontSendAdditionalData (DWORD): Set to 1 to prevent WER from sending extra telemetry or files beyond the basic crash report.
• LoggingDisabled (DWORD): Set to 1 to disable the logging of WER events to the event log.
• LocalDumps (Subkey): Located at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\LocalDumps, this key configures the automatic creation and storage of crash dump files (Minidumps or Full dumps) locally on the machine.

How to Access the Key

1. Press Win + R, type regedit, and press Enter to open the Registry Editor.
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting using the left-hand navigation pane or by pasting the path into the address bar.
3. Modify existing DWORD values or create new ones to adjust error-reporting parameters as required.